


Although I'm Not Complaining

by TheLivingFacepalm



Category: Wayward Guide for the Untrained Eye (Web Series)
Genre: ...yeah okay fine maybe it influenced this fic a bit, DON'T @ ME IT'S A GOOD SHOW, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY OR WHATEVER FEWUHDSHAUSUA, Multi, THE AUTHOR WAS WATCHING UGLY BETTY WHILE WRITING THIS, Valentine's Day, bc i tag before and during my writing not after, bc then they're like looking at me like 'okay future serial killer', i don't have the attention span to do anything so imma try and write instead, i hope you all know that the reason why i put my tags like this is, i love saying shit like that around my friends who don't want wgftue, i mean no but like yknow, its not a focus, maybe it's....like half and half between sypaul and arson, mostly arson is the focus bc ARSON, my dog just dragged her bum across the rug and god is dead, not me crying over a decade old dramedy and writing fanfiction about werewolves, oh uh yeah so like the Desquinn in the fic is more of a reference i guess, ok maybe slightly less arson than i thought, that has nothing to do with the fic just wanted to share that with the world, wait what are tags anyways, well i mean....werewolves...dogs..i could incorporate it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29459091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLivingFacepalm/pseuds/TheLivingFacepalm
Summary: The Connor Creek residents have trouble wrapping their minds around Valentine's Day.
Relationships: Desmond Brewer/Quinn Cassidy, Madison Reynolds/Artemis Schue-Horyn, Sybilus Silver II/Paul Schue-Horyn
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	Although I'm Not Complaining

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy some cheesy shit

For a long time Connor Creek residents didn't even know about Valentine's Day. That changed after the Walkers took a brief trip to New York City. The Walkers being the Walkers, and New York City being...well, a city, the couple had picked up on it pretty quickly. The year after that trip they'd begun doing Valentine's Day sales of floral arrangements. About fifty per cent of the Walkers' fellow Connor Creek residents expressed interest in this newfound holiday (Donny seemed almost aggressive about how fascinated he was by the holiday), and the other fifty per cent were either oblivious of the whole entire thing, or really didn't care.

So it made sense that half of the Connor Creek residents were caught off guard by the Schue-Horyn twins coming to Connor Creek on the 14th of February. They did visit on holidays, but of course, seen as half of Connor Creek forgot that Valentine's day was a holiday at all, caused them to be confused. Madison was the first to ask about this.

When you...well, you know...LIKE someone, it can be awkward, but in a very internalized way. There's this whole anxiety about letting "I like you" slip when your talking to them, and there always needs to be a game plan before approaching someone.

Madison's game plan: approach Artemis. Small talk. Then big talk. A.k.a 'hey you're like super cool and all and I ain't complaining but why are you here and not in LA? Just a thought, if there's follow up questions we can just do rapidfire'. After that.....uuuuuuhhhhh. Leave? Yes. Good. Good game plan. You go, Madison. You got this.

She didn't got this.

The first flaw in Madison's plan was where and when she'd approach Artemis. Turns out Artemis approached her first, pretty soon after coming to Connor Creek actually. Madison probably shouldn't have come up with this plan in the Dead Canary. Artemis went there almost immediately.

Madison's mind rather rudely blocked out what Artemis said with the panicked thoughts 'wait? What? This is happening? This isn't the game plan! Abort mission! Is there a way to abort mission without having had tried to do the mission in the first place? What do I do? Walk away? Oh no, we're really in it know'.

After an awkward silence, Madison realized it was turn to speak. "Huh wha duh blee wha?" 

Second flaw: Madison hadn't bothered to include the step of 'speak coherently'. Big mistake.

"Madison? Hello?" Artemis seemed...vaguely concerned.

"Oh! Hello! What were you saying?" Madison asked.

"Just saying hi," Artemis smiled.

"Why?" Madison asked. She was smiling back without even realizing it.

"Just 'cause," Artemis said, "Why not?"

"Well...why are you here? I thought you and Paul are only coming for holidays," Madison shook her head in bewilderment.

Artemis looked confused...

"Don't you know?" She said, "It's Valentine's Day."

Madison nodded, "Right. Yeah, of course. Valentine's Day. Valentine's...Day...."

"Y'know, the holiday basically centered around romance and love?" Artemis explained.

Madison's eyes widened, "Oh...yeah...of course. Of course, I know. Yeaaaaahhh." Her face was getting rather warm, "Um, I have to go, I need to...get something from...Ellis, and Mary Jo."

"Oh, okay," Artemis said.

Once Madison had left, she turned back to the bar.

"How's Quinn?" Artemis asked.

Desmond glanced in the direction of the kitchen and sighed, "He's a bit grumpy today. I...may have tried to give him a Valentine earlier today."

"And?"

"They were chocolates."

"Oooooh...." Artemis nodded. "Not a fan of the...chef of the chocolates."

"They're not a chef, they're technically a-"

The two could distantly hear Quinn yell, "CHOCOLATIEEEERRRR!"

"Yeah," Desmond said, "Should've just gotten him flowers."

///

Meanwhile, Sybilus had made the mistake of running into Paul.

Mistake or miracle? The jury's still out on that one.

"Oh, by the way," Paul said (while Sybilus was processing the whole thing) "I made you a Valentine's Day card!"

Paul handed Sybilus a pink paper shaped like a heart. In thick black ink it neatly said 'FOR SYB' with an exclamation mark and half a dozen smiley faces next to it.

"A-a....little heart...," Sybilus said, staring down at the card. More specifically, staring at the nickname. He wasn't used to being called any nicknames, although he wasn't complaining. He looked up, thinking again about how Paul had given him a Valentine (also what's a Valentine's Day?!), "Why?"

"'Why?' Because I think you're cool! You're my Valentine!" Paul grinned. When Sybilus didn't respond he softened, saying, "You are, if you didn't know. Cool, I mean. You're cool. Really cool."

"I-I'm...cool?" Sybilus asked, "You...think that I'm cool?"

He was shocked how little he stuttered saying it. Something about the serenity of Paul telling him he was cool helped him speak clearer.

"Yep!" Paul smiled. "Anyways, Agnes probably wants to talk to either me or Artemis about how it is in 'la la land', and Artemis will probably be to busy 'not swooning' over Madison to want to talk, so gotta go."

Paul offered a quick finger gun and ran off, leaving Sybilus to look back down to the card little heart once more.

///

Donny was enjoying a normal Valentine's Day. A.k.a sitting where Prism used to give him dating advice and mourning.

He wasn't mourning Prism though. Instead mourning his lack of a significant other. As he was thinking about how lonely he was, Madison barged in.

"DONNY! WHAT'S VALENTINE'S DAY? WHAT'S IT GOT TO DO WITH ROMANCE?"

Donny sat up, "It's a day where people give each other stuff like flowers and cards and chocolates and all that to say 'hey dude! I love you!' Y'know?"

"Oh..." Madison nodded. For a moment she felt hopeful, before shaking her head. "W-why did Artemis and Paul come to town if they don't love anyone in town?"

rather appropriately timed, Sybilus burst in.

"Oh, heya Sybilus!" Madison said. "Lemme catch you up, Valentine's Day is a day where people give things to each other to say that they romantically like each other."

"R-ro-romantically?" Sybilus asked. His hand went to the pocket he'd been keeping Paul's Valentine's Day card.

"Yeah," Madison said. She pulled over an old crate and sat down across from Donny. By the time Sybilus was sitting next to her, they almost completely paralleled the Artemis and Paul from the day they'd visited Prism.

An awkward silence ensued before Donny said, "So are you anybody's Valentine?" He eyed Sybilus' pocket that held the pink heart.

"Erm..." Sybilus stuffed the card deep into his pocket, "Well...I...uh-"

Donny leaned forward, "You are aren't you?"

"Y-yeah," He admitted, "....Paul."

Donny's brow furrowed, "But aren't Paul and Artemis-"

"NO," Madison interrupted, crossing her arms.

"Th-they're siblings," Sybilus meekly said. "And Artemis is gay."

"Artemis is gay?" Madison turned to Sybilus, sitting up and her arms unfolding. "How'd you..."

"You didn't know?" Sybilus asked, "Paul told me. I dunno, I thought everyone had found out one way or another."

"Oh...uh, interesting..." Madison said. She paused. "Are you going to give Paul anything?"

Sybilus looked to Donny.

Donny shrugged, "Do you like Paul back?"

"W-well...I do...k-kinda like Paul," Sybilus slightly smiled. He glanced towards Madison, "Do you have a Valentine?"

"Maybe," Madison smiled, "Maybe Artemis. I may be getting some flowers for Artemis. Will you get anything for Paul then."

Donny leaned back, watching Sybilus and Madison chatter. He could get used to this. If he were to never find a significant other (let's be clear: he will, this is purely hypothetical) he could get used to the whole 'love-life-advice' thing.

///

Madison didn't bother with the game plan this time. She saw Artemis entering the Dead Canary and followed close. "Hey! Artemis!"

"Madison? Madison!" Artemis turned, "What...what's going on?"

"You're my valentine!" Madison smiled. She offered the flowers in her hands. They were the ones that were all big and yellow and suction-cup-looking. "I mean, if you're cool with it and all that."

"I'm cool with it!" Artemis said. "Uh...does this mean, like, dating and all that."

"I....I don't know, come to think of it," Madison admitted, "All I really know is I love you."

Artemis watched Madison for a moment, taking her presence in, then said, "I love you too, and that's enough to me, Mads."

///

It took a little longer for Sybilus to figure out how to give Paul any sort of card or gesture in response. He didn't even realize that Valentine's Day had passed. He assumed it must've been a month long thing or something. Paul had found out about it before Sybilus had finished. A little bird had told Artemis that Sybilus was making something for someone, and then Artemis told Paul.

Paul had eventually figured out where Sybilus lived (not in a creepy way, he literally just asked his sister's girlfriend). And went there to...casually talk about Valentine's Day with the guy who he'd declared his Valentine a few days earlier. Yeah. Maybe this wasn't the most well thought out plan.

When Paul couldn't get in, some part of his brain said 'I should just help myself in'. So he climbed in through the window.

Again, Paul didn't plan this through all the way. He had all those 'does he like me?' jitters.

By the time Sybilus came back Paul was comfortably sitting on his couch reading a copy of 'The Gay Science' and understanding nothing. He assumed it was going to be interesting little book about science or whatever but it wasn't.

It.

So.

Wasn't.

(Paul was a tad scared to pick up 'Ecce Homo' by this Fred guy now). (Maybe it wouldn't be as fun as he'd initially thought).

Point is, by the time Sybilus got home, he was very much confused and very much concerned about on earth Paul got into his home.

"P-Paul? What're you doing? How'd you get in here?" Sybilus asked.

Paul shrugged, "Your...window was open. I helped myself in. Nice place by the way. Cozy, in your own sorta way, I like it. But you should probably put some sort of lock on your window. I just helped myself in, and I began reading this book. By the way, did you know 'The Gay Science' is not a book about gay stuff? It's, like, super sad. This, Nickerdoodle guy, is not a positive person, I mean I knew he went mad and hugged a horse or whatever but anyways what was I talking about? Oh yeah, get a lock on your window."

"Alright but...er...can you please explain why exactly you broke into my home? I'm...very uncomfor--scared...uneased right now," Sybilus said.

Paul set the gay-book-that-wasn't-actually-gay down. "Sorry if I caught you off guard when I was ten I was on a soccer team and at the end of the year I earned a 'most surprising player' award."

"It's fine, I'm just a bit confused," Sybilus smiled, his posture loosening. "But, I still kind of want to know why you're here."

"I wanted to talk to you about Valentine's Day!" Paul said. "I know it came off as a little weird, me saying that you're cool out of the blue, but it's true! You're rad!"

"Thanks," Sybilus said, sitting besides Paul now, "Not many people say that...I-I was making you a card...but I was having tro-trouble."

"With what?" Paul asked.

Sybilus pulled a roughly shaped red heart out of his pocket and held it up to Paul. "The...heart part."

"Oh, that's easy," Paul said, taking the paper from Sybilus. He ripped off some ends to make it a square paper again, then folded it in half. He began ripping a half circle along the paper and it's crease, eventually ripping the excess paper off. When he unfolded the paper he had....

...a circle.

"See!" Paul said, "Easy as pie."

"A-as impressive...amazing...fantastical as it is that you can so neatly rip paper," Sybilus said, "That's a circle."

Paul looked at the shape again. He flipped it upside down. He smelled it (it smelled of herbal tea). He tried listening to it (he failed). Indeed, it was the shape of a circle, and not a heart. 

Suddenly he was laughing, and Sybilus offered a few small laughs with him. "It isn't a heart is it? It's a circle."

When the laughter died out, Paul began observing the paper. That was when he discovered that the card said in Sybilus' distinct handwriting 'will you be my valentine?'.

Sybilus realized this, and there was an awkward silence.

Again.

Poor Sybilus, he shouldn't be in two awkward silences in one fic. But he is. Poor guy.

"Well...will you?" He asked. "It's fine if y-"

"Yeah, dude!" Paul smiled. "Does that mean that we're Valentines? Like, valentines together? We're like a thing now then are we?"

Sybilus looked shocked for a solid second, and suddenly he was grinning from ear to ear, "Y-yes, I suppose."

///

Madison also didn't realize that Valentine's Day was more than one day. A week after the whole thing, she handed Artemis a small box of chocolates.

"What's this for?" Artemis asked, shaking her head.

Madison raised an eyebrow, "Isn't it Valentine's Day?"

"No...Valentine's Day is a single day..." Artemis corrected Madison, "But I'm not complaining."

**Author's Note:**

> Uuuuuhhm....SO I'M ONCE AGAIN PROCRASTINATING FROM WORKING ON THE VICTORIAN AU. I have no idea what to do with it send help. I may just...give it to someone who wants to write it if they wanna continue it. The lord Zaphod Beeblebrox didn't give me a brain with the capacity for a...plot. Anyways yeah. I BETCHA IT AIN'T EVEN VALENTINE'S DAY ANYMORE FOR SOME OF Y'ALL BUT I COULDN'T FINISH MY SHUS DRAWING IN TIME SO HERE'S THE SECOND BEST THING, A ONE SHOT.
> 
> ur welcome i did all three of the ships because haha...ha....I couldn't choose one okay there's so many cool things that you can do with a valentine's day plot and i couldn't just do all of them for ONE ship so uh yeah. 
> 
> Also if you were wondering "The Gay Science" is also sometimes known as 'The Joyful Wisdom' or 'The Joyous Science', and is a 1882 book by Nietzsche during his middle period.
> 
> It's also the book where the quote 'God is dead' comes from so I guess it's not as cheery as the title may make it seem I just put that in bc I like the concept that Sybilus really loves philosophy (shhh I'm projecting again) and so I looked up "Nietzsche's Works" and found "THE GAY SCIENCE" and thought 'ah yes G A Y'
> 
> ngl i feel like I wrote a bit more for Sypaul than Arson than I initially intended but I mean, all I can say is whoops.


End file.
